Brothers union - 2019

Third year and it did happen again. Though Vinu was not part of the plan, others managed to take a day out for cousin bro reunion.

The place was finalized by Vineeth, resort at Paithal mala. Though we started by 3PM, we reached only around 7PM after covering the steep route. Usual drinks and discussion activity was up for take. 

Way back we took proper route via Chemperi & Shrikandapuram, which reduced the travel time on way back. Another good year and year end party. 

ET - Leaders of Tomorrow

We got selected for ET- Leaders of Tomorrow 2020 South Zone edition. We were selected in top 20 list and were slotted to present for top 5 shortlisting.

 Unfortunately, we did not complete our presentation in scheduled 4 min slot, and also did not use the 6 min Q&A properly. I thought it was an easy chance to qualify for top 5 national from south zone.

It was good exposure and experience to be part of such a program. Also this submission was completely managed by me, so got an idea of what goes behind. I wish i had presented ha ha;)

Aston Martin time

This time it was Lego - Aston Martin (sent by Susana & Renu for Christmas). Sid was super excited and ended sitting 2 days to complete the Aston Martin in full focus.

First part was done one evening, and the remaining was done the next day once Sid was back from school. His focus to do such things is amazing, and i also enjoy getting dragged by him into it. 

Indian style momos!

Lip smacking Indian style momos was prepared by Mee (using Atta). Hot hot serving just added to the taste... yummmm.!!!

Wished we had more to keep eating!!!Does that expression not tell everything:)

A trek with Sid!

It was time for SMR trekking event. With Mee headed to Chennai, the floor was open to take Sid also for trek. It was time to do Antargange, and with a wonderful climate, it was a great trek. Sid surprised me with a super sportive outlook to trek.

He got along with everyone and just went on without any complains. Aku was his company and they both enjoyed the whole trek (though there were few difficult places to negotiate).  

Slight drizzle inbetween made the trek more interesting keeping everyone happy without much sweat.  

We went from top to down where temple was located, and back. Having started early, we could easily complete the trek in first half and get back to our drive. 

Way back we stopped at nice restaurant (The Terminal) and had some drinks while kids enjoyed there food. 

Bachelorette party 2019

It all started with the book "Bachelorette Party" by Ravinder Singh, which i had picked from JustRead library. Few pages into it, thought came, i should initiate Softnest Bacheloretty party before the year ends. 

What happened next was simple. I created a new WhatsApp group (well had to create as few members of our existing WhatsApp group were outlaws - you know what i mean;)) and sent an emotional message to group, and there we had everyone happily signing on for it.  With all the developments that had happened in Year 2019, everyone was more than happy to jump in. 

We finalized the date for Nov 30, considering everyone except for Capto and KT not being able to join (for their own reasons). However, it ended with Augu also dropping out as his travel extended and he could not reach back to India as planned to join party. It was too late to reschedule the party so we went ahead with it.

Catch up with Mano & Jins triggered idea of making T-Shirt as momento for the occasion. Printo was the go to place and I coordinated with Manoj to get the T-Shirts done (with everyone's name). 

We booked at one of the Prestige villa property near airport, so travel time was short. On way we hogged some good mallu food at Kuttanadu (Aji Etan freaked out on the food and then the sugiyan). We started with T-Shirt ceremony first, followed by cards, then some good music, karoke, dance and barbeque. Our host Pappy was nice to do some good barbeque (prawns, chicken, paneer etc). 

We ended partying till late till all were knocked out. But like good folks, all were up by 6 and roaming around for fresh air in morning. 

After some wonderful time, we packed and headed back home. More reasons to move on to next Bachelerotte party 2020!!!

Cubbon with Aditi folks

After Saturday catchup with Shail & family, it was time for Cubbon park trip with Aditi folks. We had good response again and was good to see more ladies joining:)

Decided to run from home to Cubbon and did that comfortably. 

It was walk followed by breakfast @MTR. 

Pasta Street with Shail & Family

Caught up with Shail and family after long time. This time it was finalized @ Pasta Street in Indira Nagar. Post the dinner we headed to Corner house for some Ice time;)

Evening with achayans!

Interesting that we as softnestians are getting closer given some of the events that has been happening (read capto). Manoj called for evening catch-up near Trinity post session which he and Jins were attending. 

We ended at "Carnival de Goa". Had few drinks and long discussion, was fun as usual with limited table occupied. Some of the bachelerotte party T-Shirt concept was finalized here.  

Day in Cochin - nostalgic moments

It was time for Capto's second inning. We travelled a day in advance and stayed @ Cochin before heading to Aranmulla on a rented Innova. First day me, Meera and Sid visited Ramya's house followed by Kurup Auntiji's house. It was nice meeting both the families, especially auntiji who was alone and spent almost 3 hrs talking with us. Guess it would have been same for Auntiji also to meet (like we enjoyed).

Post meeting Aunty and relative, we headed to Lulu mall to cater to Sid's taste for fun games. He enjoyed few games including virtual rowing.

Day 1 - Kumbh - India's megaevent

After few deliberations decided to head to Kumbh (initial plan was to head to Gulmarg). Pawan and Capto decided to join, though Manoj did a drop out when plan started getting finalized. 

It was a week long trip. It followed something like this:

1. Bangalore to Lucknow: 
2. Lucknow to Allahabad (Prayagraj)
3. Prayagraj to Varanasi
4. Varanasi to Lucknow
5. Lucknow to Bangalore

Bangalore to Lucknow:

We decided to take this route given the flight tickets to Prayagraj was quite expensive. The flight to Lucknow was 1/3 of the cost and there were enough trains available for us to commute from Lucknow to Prayagraj. 

We reached early morning @ KIA thinking we can enjoy free breakfast at the Lounge courtesy credit card (free food option). However, both me and Pawan ended spending money on our card as our card was not eligible for the offer. 

It turned out to be a very expensive option given food outside of the lounge would have been cheaper and better quality;)

Anyways, we ensured we had our quota of omelette to do the paisa vasool (and to ensure we could skip the breakfast @ Lucknow). 

First day morning we landed in Lucknow and stayed @ Hotel Radical. The place was quite nice fornight stay for the money we spent. We decided to go round Lucknow (more or less to try food). For lunch we ended up @ Moti Mahal restaurant to try some chats. The food was good though i would not rate it as exceptional. 

We tried Chole Bature, some sweets and chats. Pawan was happy to have veg food of Lucknow (well he did not realize that the journey ahead was with two non veggies). 

Post that we headed to Imam Bargah which is built as mourning place for the Muslims who sacrificed their life to uphold truth. Inside it is the Bhool Bhulaiya, which is the main attraction for folks to visit. We went inside and did realize that it is a struggle at times to find the way back with routes all ending in different directions or reaching without an end.

Post the visit it was time for me and Capto to try the famous Tunday's. We had tried the Bangalore one, but were keen to try the original Tunday's of Lucknow.

The journey back from there was bit difficult given the availability of transportation, or rather to say, knowhow of how to find right transport for commuting. We took rick and went to a veg restaurant to ensure Pawan had his share of dinner.

Once done on way back me and capto decided to have a share of drinks before the holy dip to ganges;). It was a complete different experience with lot of walks combined with traffic which was quite unexpected (Rickshaws, electric autos, vikrams, etc).

Kannur Trip

As usual December end is time for Kannur Trip, with Dad's and brothers birthday. Brother reached Kannur by 21-Dec and we started our journey on 22-Dec morning. This time idea was to go along with Manoj/Tressa/Captain. However, with our lead of hour long plus we were at Coorg Café much ahead. We decided to move ahead on our own after breakfast, while Captain continued with Manoj and Tressa.

We had another guest @ Kannur this time, brothers friend and family (Jinu and family with kido).

Had great time with 2 birthday's (Dad and brothers) and some fun games while guests were around (Tambola etc).